17 December, 2025 – Jalandhar : Surplus stocks of potato available since last year and an expected higher production in Punjab, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha have already become a major concern for Doaba-based potato growers.
The harvest of early varieties, mainly Kufri Pukhraj, has started and is fetching farmers only Rs 6–7 per kg at the farm gate. “The only good thing happening so far is that the weather is going good. There has been no fog, smog, rain or frost so far. If it remains clear for the next 15 days too, there shall be no blight attack and we can expect a bumper crop,” said Jang Bahadur Sangha, one of the biggest potato growers in the region.
Sangha, however, is not very optimistic about the market scenario this year. “We had a very good crop last year. That stock has not cleared at many places. The cropping of potato has increased so much across other states too. In these circumstances, we cannot expect a good price for our crop as the demand-supply ratio suits the consumer (and also the politicians) but not the growers,” he said.
Jaswinder Sangha, who represents the Jalandhar Potato Growers Association, said, “For the early 60-day variety, we are getting just Rs 6–7 per kg, which means that we are just at par with the expenses incurred so far. We shall just be able to recover the costs. We may not get any profit margins this time. The farmers have not been able to completely sell out their last year’s stocks of potato still and hence the market for fresh potatoes has been slow. Now, we can only expect the weather to remain clear for the next fortnight so that we are able to have a good crop of Kufri Chandramukhi, Kufri Jyoti and Diamond varieties too.”
Potato farmers from Jalandhar have also been experimenting extensively with tissue culture techniques for multiplying varieties sourced from the Central Potato Research Institute in Kufri. “Many farmers have their own private tissue culture laboratories wherein they are making lakhs of plants from a single plant that they bring from Kufri. Government laboratories and tissue culture labs with Thapar University too have been a big support. Aeroponic technique too is having many takers since the past few years,” said Jaswinder Sangha.
Another potato cultivator from Jalandhar, Gurraj S Nijjar, who is primarily engaged in producing potato seed, expressed concern over the disturbed market cycle following last year’s potato glut. “We are so far getting only Rs 300–400 for a 50 kg packet for the new seed, which is on a bit lower side. Our recent seed supply from Punjab to West Bengal for Malini, Pukhraj and Jyoti varieties had got badly affected this time as there was shortage of labour since the Bihar elections. Loading had remained badly affected. By the time our consignment reached the destination, there was rain and some supplies got damaged. Hence, we have suffered losses too,” he said.
The Tribune